Exertion Quotes

• A man who has nothing for which he is willing to fight, nothing which is more important than his own personal safety, is a miserable creature and has no chance of being free unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself.

  John Stuart Mill

  Freedom, War, Military

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• The strength of a man's virtue should not be measured by his special exertions, but by his habitual acts.

  Blaise Pascal

  Inspirational, Strength, Wisdom

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• Nothing happens by itself... it all will come your way, once you understand that you have to make it come your way, by your own exertions.

  Ben Stein

  Responsibility, Way, Happens

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• War is the domain of physical exertion and suffering.

  Carl von Clausewitz

  War, Suffering, Domain

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• Human progress is neither automatic nor inevitable . . .

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Struggle, Sacrifice, Progress

  Martin Luther King (Jr.), Alex Ayres (1993). “The Wisdom of Martin Luther King, Jr”, Plume

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• A multitude of causes unknown to former times are now acting with a combined force to blunt the discriminating powers of the mind, and unfitting it for all voluntary exertion to reduce it to a state of almost savage torpor.

  William Wordsworth

  Stupid, Mind, Acting

  William Wordsworth, Dorothy Wordsworth (1815). “Poems”, p.370

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• Everyone confesses in the abstract that exertion which brings out all the powers of body and mind is the best thing for us all; but practically most people do all they can to get rid of it, and as a general rule nobody does much more than circumstances drive them to do.

  Harriet Beecher Stowe

  Best Effort, People, Mind

  "The Lady Who Does Her Own Work". The Atlantic Monthly, 1864.

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• It is bad policy to regulate everything... where things may better regulate themselves and can be better promoted by private exertions; but it is no less bad policy to let those things alone which can only be promoted by interfering social power.

  Friedrich List

  May, Finance, Social

  Friedrich List, William Notz (1931). “Grundlinien einer politischen Ökonomie und andere Beiträge der amerikanischen Zeit: 1825-1832”

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• But the general welfare must restrict and regulate the exertions of the individuals, as the individuals must derive a supply of their strength from social power.

  Friedrich List

  Welfare, Individual, Social

  Friedrich List, Erwin von Beckerath, Karl Goeser, Friedrich Lenz, Edgar Salin (1931). “Schriften, Reden, Briefe: Grundlinien einer politischen Ökonomie”

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• After voluntary exertions on the part of our people to which the history of the world furnishes no parallel, is the old root of bitterness still to remain in the ground, to sprout and bear fruit in the future as it has borne fruit in the past?

  Robert Dale Owen

  Past, Roots, People

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• Many possessions, if they do not make a man better, are at least expected to make his children happier; and this pathetic hope is behind many exertions.

  George Santayana

  Children, Men, Possession

  George Santayana (2015). “The Life of Reason: Human Understanding”, p.48, 谷月社

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• As a reward of their clean living and good habits these great stars have been able to withstand the rigorous test of stamina and physical exertion and have thus successfully extended their most remarkable careers over a period of many strenuous years.

  Major Taylor

  Stars, Years, Careers

  Major Taylor (1928). “The Fastest Bicycle Rider in the World: The Story of a Colored Boy's Indomitable Courage and Success Against Great Odds; an Autobiography”

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• The real exertion in the case of an opera singer lies not so much in her singing as in her acting of a role, for nearly every modern opera makes great dramatic and physical demands.

  Maria Jeritza

  Lying, Real, Singing

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• Possession, it is true, crowns exertion with rest; but it is only in the illusions of fancy that it has power to charm us.

  Wilhelm von Humboldt

  Power, Crowns, Fancy

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• Every proper exertion has been made and will be continued to carry out the wishes of Congress in relation to the tobacco trade, as indicated in the several resolutions of the House of Representatives and the legislation of the two branches.

  Martin Van Buren

  Two, House, Wish

  United States. President (1837-1841 : Van Buren), Martin Van Buren (1838). “Message from the President of the United States to the Two Houses of Congress: At the Commencement of the Third Session of the Twenty-fifth Congress”, p.14

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• With every exertion, the best of men can do but a moderate amount of good; but it seems in the power of the most contemptible individual to do incalculable mischief.

  Washington Irving

  Men, Evil, Individual

  Washington Irving (1859). “The works of Washington Irving”, p.402

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• Difficulties should act as a tonic. They should spur us to greater exertion.

  B. C. Forbes

  Motivational, Adversity, Challenges

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• Apprehension, uncertainty, waiting, expectation, fear of surprise, do a patient more harm than any exertion.

  Florence Nightingale

  Nursing, Nurse, Expectations

  Florence Nightingale (1992). “Notes on Nursing: What it Is, and what it is Not”, Lippincott Williams & Wilkins

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• I have no faith in human perfectability. I think that human exertion will have no appreciable effect upon humanity. Man is now only more active - not more happy - nor more wise, than he was 6000 years ago.

  Edgar Allan Poe

  Wise, Wisdom, Men

  Edgar Allan Poe (1980). “The Unknown Poe: An Anthology of Fugitive Writings”, p.4, City Lights Books

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• The half minute which we daily devote to the winding-up of our watches is an exertion of labour almost insensible; yet, by the aid of a few wheels, its effect is spread over the whole twenty-four hours.

  Charles Babbage

  Half, Four, Wheels

  Charles Babbage (1841). “On the Economy of Machinery and Manufactures”, p.38

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• In England, the profession of the law is that which seems to hold out the strongest attraction to talent, from the circumstance, that in it ability, coupled with exertion, even though unaided by patronage, cannot fail of obtaining reward.

  Charles Babbage

  Law, Rewards, England

  Charles Babbage (1830). “Reflections on the Decline of Science in England: And on Some of Its Causes, by Charles Babbage (1830). To which is Added On the Alleged Decline of Science in England, by a Foreigner (Gerard Moll) with a Foreword by Michael Faraday (1831).”, p.13

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• Success depends in a very large measure upon individual initiative and exertion, and cannot be achieved except by a dint of hard work.

  Anna Pavlova

  Success, Hard Work, Initiative

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• There is also a perfection of degrees, by which a person performs all the commands of God, with the full exertion of all his powers, without the least defect. This is what the law of God requires, but what the saints cannot attain to in this life.

  Charles Buck

  Law, Perfection, Degrees

  Charles Buck (1807). “A Theological Dictionary”, p.238

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• Knowledge is not a passion from without the mind, but an active exertion of the inward strength, vigor and power of the mind, displaying itself from within.

  Ralph Cudworth

  Passion, Knowledge, Mind

  Ralph Cudworth, Thomas Birch (1838). “The True Intellectual System of the Universe: Wherein All the Reason and Philosophy of Atheism is Confuted, and Its Impossibility Demonstrated. A Treatise on Immutable Morality; with a Discourse Concerning the True Notion of the Lord's Supper: and Two Sermons on 1. John 2: 3, 4, and 1. Cor. 15: 27”, p.423

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• I have found that no exertion of the legs can bring two minds much nearer to one another.

  Henry David Thoreau

  Two, Mind, Legs

  Henry David Thoreau (2014). “Citizen Thoreau: Walden, Civil Disobedience, Life Without Principle, Slavery in Massachusetts, A Plea for Captain John Brown”, p.85, Graphic Arts Books

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